by Janie Crouch
Evan turned around to face Christopher, who was now sitting up on the floor. Security guards were rushing to assist him.
“I’m taking my wife back to our cabin. As I’m sure you now realize, she doesn’t like people to grab her. I trust nothing like this will happen again.”
Christopher didn’t say anything, just glared at them. Evan returned to where Juliet had propped herself against the railing, put his arm around her and led her away.
The magnitude of what she’d done hit Juliet. She brought her fist up to her mouth. “Oh no, Evan, I’ve ruined everything.” She couldn’t help it; tears welled in her eyes. “What’s going to happen?”
He stopped and pulled her into his arms. They were far enough away now that no one could see or hear them. “Hey, we’ll deal with it.”
“But I assaulted Cady’s son! I may have just blown everything.”
“He wasn’t hurt, you just knocked the wind out of him. It’s late. Let’s head back to the room and let everything die down.”
Juliet nodded. She couldn’t think of any way to undo the damage she’d done.
“My brothers were afraid something like this would happen. They were right.”
“They were right about what? That you would be able to handle yourself if some guy started forcing his attention on you? Christopher Cady won’t make that mistake again.”
“I guess not,” Juliet whispered, but she didn’t feel any better. What if, after everything they’d done to get here, she and Evan got booted off the ship because she hadn’t been able to keep her cool?
“You just need to get some rest, Lisa. Everything will feel better in the morning,” Evan said a little too loudly as he opened the door to their cabin.
Juliet took the hint. It wasn’t safe for them to talk anymore, at least not about blowing the case. But even Lisa Sinclair would be worried about the ramifications of assaulting Cady’s only son.
“I’m worried what Vince is going to do when he finds out.”
Evan nodded and gave her a little squeeze. “We’ll deal with that as it comes.”
* * *
EVAN COULD TELL Juliet didn’t get much sleep. Her tossing around had little to do with the patch of rougher waters the boat had hit and everything to do with her apprehension over what had happened with Christopher Cady.
Evan should never have left her alone. His talk with Heath Morel, trying to get the other man to agree not to send any more emails to Lisa, had been pretty fruitless, anyway. Morel had played his cards very close to his chest, refusing to admit to any knowledge whatsoever about the emails. And Evan hadn’t wanted to make a big scene that would get them noticed, so force was out of the question.
Which was about the time he had looked up and seen Christopher Cady flying through the air over Juliet’s shoulder. Evan’s immediate concern had been for her safety. Had Cady assaulted her? Tried to harm her in some way?
But once Evan made it over there and realized Juliet wasn’t harmed—and neither was Cady—he’d also been concerned for the case. Although he’d tried to assure her otherwise, Juliet was right to be worried about how Vince would respond to her aggression against his son.
But it was already morning, so evidently Cady wasn’t planning to kill them. He would’ve done that last night, although even for Cady that was a bit extreme. But Evan wouldn’t be surprised if they were put off the ship altogether, or at the very least not allowed to participate in the auctions.
Which would put the drone codes out in the open. They couldn’t allow that to happen.
But hell if Evan had any sort of plan B.
A sharp knock at their cabin door startled Evan and had Juliet sitting up in the bed, clutching the sheet to her chest. Evan looked around for anything he could use as a weapon, but there wasn’t much. He pulled his jeans on and answered the door.
“Yes?” He opened the door the smallest crack possible.
It was one of Cady’s security force. “Mr. Cady would like to extend an invitation for you to join him for breakfast in his private dining area in one hour. I’ll return then to escort you.”
The man didn’t wait for an answer; just turned to leave. Evan closed the door and found Juliet up and already starting to get dressed.
“Breakfast with Cady. Is that bad or good?”
Evan honestly didn’t know. “We’ll just have to see and go from there.”
True to his word, the guard was back to escort them an hour later. Evan and Juliet hadn’t said much to each other during that time. There wasn’t much that could be discussed when they knew their conversation would be overheard.
Her expression was tight and she kept biting at her lip as they walked toward Cady’s dining room. Evan wished he could reassure her, but had no idea how.
“Good morning, Bob, Lisa,” Vince said to them as they were shown into the room. He sat at a small table that held settings for four. “Please sit down.”
Coffee and juice were already on the table, but no food had arrived. Evan held out a seat for Juliet, then took the one next to her.
Juliet glanced quickly at him, then turned her attention to Vince. “Mr. Cady, please allow me to apologize for what happened with your son last night. I am afraid I still have some…residual issues from some…occurrences in my past.”
Vince didn’t respond, just added some cream to his coffee.
“Mr. Cady,” Juliet continued, “I hope you will take into consideration that it was only me who assaulted your son. Bob had nothing to do with it. He wasn’t even with me at the time.”
Evan stared at her. What the heck was she doing?
“I don’t blame you if you want me to leave. But I hope you will not penalize Bob, or the people we work for, because of my actions. Please allow Bob to remain for the auction today.”
Cady turned his head and looked at her while stirring his coffee. “You assaulted my son.”
Damn it. Evan knew he should’ve stepped in before now. Assaulted was such an ugly word. “Mr. Cady, my wife—”
“I’m just trying to tell you that it was me. It had nothing to do with Bob.” Juliet cut him off.
Cady leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his coffee. “No offense, Mrs. Sinclair, but you don’t look like you would be big or strong enough to assault anyone. Much less someone as large as Christopher.”
Juliet started to speak again, but Cady held out his hand to silence her. “Furthermore, I know Christopher well, and I have no doubt that if you flipped him over your shoulder, then he did something to deserve it.”
For the first time since last evening Evan could relax slightly. Cady wasn’t mad. He was impressed with Juliet.
“I just don’t like to be touched, once I’ve told somebody not to.”
Cady took another sip of his coffee, laughing. “That’s right. No means no. Well, you’ve certainly helped Christopher learn that lesson. One I’d hoped he’d learned, but evidently had not.”
Two waiters brought out trays of food, setting plates before each of them. “My wife was going to join us, but she’s not feeling well because of the rough waters.” Cady was referring to the empty chair. “Please go ahead and eat.”
Evan was a few bites into his delicious meal of eggs, bacon and fruit when Christopher Cady walked in. When he saw Evan and Juliet his expression turned from bored to irritated to smug.
“You wanted to see me, Father?”
Evan saw Juliet’s fork hesitate halfway up to her mouth. Did Cady expect her to apologize to Christopher? She would do it to save the case, but Evan wasn’t sure he could stomach it. He reached over and grasped her free hand.
“Mr. Cady—”
Cady held out a palm to silence Evan.
“Christopher, I was just speaking to Bob and Lisa about what happened last night.”
The younger Cady could barely tear his gaze away from Juliet to answer. “A misunderstanding, Father. I’m sure Lisa did not mean any harm by what happened.”
“I’m sure you’re right. You, on the other hand, I cannot speak so confidently about.”
Now Vince had Christopher’s attention. A growing awareness of his father’s feelings about the situation dawned over his dark features. And he wasn’t happy about it.
“Father—”
“Christopher, I want you to apologize to Mrs. Sinclair for your behavior last night.” Vince cut him off without even waiting to hear the rest of the excuse.
At first Evan thought Christopher would refuse, defying his father. But then he turned stiffly to Juliet. “Please accept my apology. It was never my intention to hurt or frighten you in any way.”
Juliet nodded, but didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything she really could say. Christopher returned her nod and turned to leave, but Vince stopped him.
“I want you to apologize to Mr. Sinclair, too. After all, it was his wife you traumatized.”
Evan caught Juliet’s concerned gaze. She knew, as he did, that this was going too far. Evan didn’t understand all the dynamics between father and son, but obviously there was some sort of power struggle going on.
Evan had not expected—or wanted—an apology from Christopher. Neither had Juliet. The best both of them had hoped for was just not having to abandon the case because of what had happened. Evan wasn’t sure what buttons Vince wanted to push with Christopher, but wished it didn’t involve him and Juliet.
“Mr. Cady. That’s not necessary. Truly.” Evan tried to defuse the situation.
“Oh, I think it is,” Cady replied, while casually eating his breakfast. Obviously, putting his son in this humiliating situation didn’t bother him at all. The opposite, in fact.
Christopher stared at his father for a long moment, then finally turned to Evan. “Then my apologies to you also, Mr. Sinclair.”
The words were calm, but his gaze murderous. Evan wasn’t sure if Christopher directed the sentiment toward him or toward his father, but knew he’d just made an enemy.
But this wasn’t Evan’s first enemy. It wouldn’t be his last.
Vince evidently decided his son’s lessons in humility were over, because he didn’t stop him as he turned again to leave.
“There, glad we got that settled,” the drug lord said as he took another bite of his eggs Benedict.
“Well, thank you for understanding, Mr. Cady,” Juliet said to him. Evan noticed she wasn’t really eating, just pushing her food around on the plate. He didn’t blame her. He’d lost the taste for his.
“Vince, please, Lisa. Call me Vince.”
“Vince.” Juliet smiled at the older man, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. Her instincts were right. Vince Cady wasn’t to be trusted.
Cady lifted his water glass. “Here’s to a fruitful business partnership for years to come.”
Juliet and Evan both lifted their glasses. Evan gave his own silent toast: Here’s to the day we take you and your entire enterprise down, you bastard.
The clinking of glasses was sweet to his ears.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The auction late that afternoon wasn’t very different from other ones for art or antiques. It certainly wasn’t like the cattle auctions Evan had been to a few times as a child, with a guy up front speaking very rapidly and with a Southern accent. This was much more subdued.
Some people were here bidding on items for themselves that they would either keep or sell later. Others were representatives of a specific buyer. They were authorized to bid up to a certain amount and no more. Bidding was tricky; definitely an art form.
Acquiring the drone override codes would be difficult. Although not everyone would be bidding on them, there were at least three parties who were here specifically to do so, Evan knew. Omega had given him and Juliet an unlimited ceiling for bidding for the codes. After all, Omega would recoup the money when Cady was arrested and his accounts frozen in the next few months, after Evan had a chance to glean as much information as possible about the drug lord’s associates and suppliers.
Keeping the codes from reaching the streets was critical, but just as important was figuring out how and from whom Cady had gotten them in the first place. That’s why Omega hadn’t just taken the drone codes by force. They needed Cady’s connection inside the military. Undercover work was the only way to figure out who that was. If Evan and Juliet didn’t win the codes in the auction, then Omega would have to move much more drastically. Figuring out Cady’s supplier would no longer be an option. It was better if Evan and Juliet could just buy the codes. Their cover would remain intact to use as long as possible.
Never burn a cover if you didn’t have to.
But bidding was a skill. Going in with an extremely high bid would do nothing but throw suspicion on Evan and Juliet. They would need to use all their cunning in the bidding process. Win, but make sure it looked close.
Evan was ready to get this all over with. There were just too many unknowns on the yacht. Things he couldn’t control. The situation with Vince that morning was just plain weird. Christopher had seemed ready to kill them at any moment. And Heath Morel being here had Juliet in a frenzy.
Potential for disaster abounded. And although Juliet thus far had held up pretty well, better than most people would have under the circumstances, Evan wanted to get her off this ship and back in a situation where they had more control. Maybe not the upper hand, but at least a hand. Right now it felt as if he was trying to do everything with both hands tied behind his back.
Not to mention the storm had really picked up and was rocking the yacht, even with its powerful stabilizers, all over the place. Almost everyone had a slightly green tinge.
Evan looked around for various items as the auction continued, some art of questionable origins, and weapons, both legal and illegal. These weren’t what Evan and Juliet were here for, although every once in a while they would bid on something just to shake things up a bit.
Another piece of artwork came up for auction. Juliet sipped at the champagne a waiter, struggling to keep glasses upright on his tray, had provided. “I’m going to bid on that,” she murmured.
Evan turned to study it more closely. “Why? Do you know something about it I don’t?” She had learned a lot in the past year as an analyst, Evan knew. She had deep knowledge of many more cases than just the ones Evan worked on. Perhaps this piece of art held some importance.
“I know it’s hideous.”
He looked over to find her smiling at him. “And that’s why you want to buy it?”
“Yeah, you could hang it in your bathroom.”
Evan grasped her hand and linked their fingers together. He gazed at the painting more closely. It really was ugly.
“Um, yeah. Maybe we should pass on that. Save us the paperwork and explanations later.”
“Oh, all right. I’m disappointed.”
Evan smiled to see Juliet relaxed enough to make a joke. Keeping a firm grip on reality was important when undercover. Despite the mishap with Christopher last night, she seemed to have rebounded quite well.
“You’re doing great.” Evan leaned over and kissed her temple, whispering the words in her ear. “Hang on just a few more hours and we’ll be done here. You’re amazing.”
Juliet smiled at him crookedly. He knew she didn’t believe him. He wished he could make her realize how amazing she really was.
The bid for the drone codes came up, drawing Evan’s attention away from Juliet. This was it.
The bidding started slowly. Everyone’s attention focused on this big-ticket item regardless of whether they were bidding or not. Evan could see Vince Cady watching the proceedings closely.
A pair of Ukrainian buyers
were their biggest competition, according to the rumors Evan had heard over the past day. They were buying for themselves, leaving clear ideas of their intent. To do as much damage as possible to their enemies, which included the United States.
Right now the Ukrainians were being bid up by a young man with a Caribbean accent Evan had met briefly. He knew this was just a Hail Mary for the younger man. He had no real shot at winning.
Juliet was in charge of bidding for them. She sat, looking almost bored, as the action continued, not putting in a bid at all.
“Planning to jump in at some point?” Doing nothing made Evan nervous.
“I have a plan. Just simmer down.” Juliet winked at him.
Evan sat back in his chair. He didn’t exactly relax, but one thing he had learned was that when Juliet had a plan, it was almost always a good one. He kept telling her to trust herself. Now was his chance to show her that he trusted her, too.
Juliet did nothing as the Ukrainians continued to bid, forcing Caribbean Accent out of the running. Evan thought surely she would jump in then, but it was Heath Morel who bid instead.
Juliet tensed, but didn’t say or do anything. She and everybody else watched as the bidding went back and forth like a Ping-Pong match between the Ukrainians and Morel. Evan wanted to prod her to get in there, but forced himself not to.
Juliet could handle this.
The bidding slowed down and began growing in increments of five thousand dollars rather than the twenty thousand just moments before. Juliet made her play. She raised her hand to get the auctioneer’s attention and made a bid one hundred thousand dollars above the current price.
A collective gasp echoed through the sitting area. Cady grinned, all but rubbing his hands together. Morel turned to glare at Juliet, and Evan slipped an arm around her shoulders for support.
The bidding was now too high for Morel. He stormed out of the room. The Ukrainians bid again, five thousand higher than Juliet’s huge bump. She countered with fifty thousand dollars more.
No gasps this time, just silence. Juliet had obviously proved herself as the person to be beat in this auction. Evan turned to watch the Ukrainians argue with each other in short, quiet barks. One obviously wanted to keep bidding. The other recognized the truth: Juliet was going to win.